Not My Lyra

Chapter 2

On the car ride home, neither Lyra or Mrs. Coulter spoke a word. Lyra was starting to fidget as she didn't want to be around this woman again. Once the car stopped Lyra tried to make a run for it but Mrs. Coulter was quick to grab her hand and her golden monkey grabbed Pan.

"Lyra dear, we don't want you to hurt yourself. Please take my hand till we are in the elevator"

Lyra didn't want to hold her hand, she wanted to run and be far away as possible. She had to think of a plan while on their walk to Mrs. Coulters flat.

In the elevator Mrs. Coulter was trying to make small talk with Lyra.

"Why did you run away Lyra? You had it good living under my roof"

Lyra rolls her eyes and turned to face the wall.

"DING"

The elevator door opens up the the grand hallway. As soon as the doors were fully open Lyra made a run for her room. Once she got to her room she didn't bother shutting the door and went straight to the window.

"It's locked Pan. What do we do now?"

Lyra hears the clicking of Mrs. Coulters heels coming closer and louder as she was approaching Lyra's room.

"I have locked all the windows and the door to the terrace to keep you safe. We don't need you to pull that stunt again. Now come, we need to have a little chat"

Lyra runs to her door and slams it then runs to her bed to scream into her pillows.

"What are we going to do Pan? I don't want to play prisoner again"

"As much as we can't trust her, she must have something to say since she came and saved us from going north with the gobblers"

"BUT WHY?"

"Maybe we should do as she says as I don't want that golden monkey hurting us again. Maybe if we stay on her good side, she'll let us go"

Before Lyra or Pan could say or do anything the golden monkey opens the door and a voice so soft and sweet sounding comes through.

"Lyra, don't keep me waiting"

Getting up quickly as Lyra knew what would happen if she ignored Mrs. Coulter.

"Mrs. Coulter?"

Marisa points to the couch across from her arm chair.

"Thank you for coming out. Now I want to know why you ran away. You were happy here till the cocktail party. What happened?"

Lyra looks down at her feet then looks at Pan who is in his ermine form sitting next to her on the couch. She mumbles something under her breath.

"Lyra speak up, I thought I taught you not to do that"

"I said, you work for the gobblers. Why'd you bring me in? Was your plan to keep me then send me to the station to have Pan cut from me?"

Shocked and horrified Mrs. Coulter leans forward in her chair patting her dæmon.

"Lyra you have to understand, what I'm doing has nothing to do with you"

"Then why'd you bring me here to live with you?"

"Lyra......... I brought you here so I can protect you from the gobblers from taking you away. If I didn't get informed about you, they would off taken you to the north and I would lose you forever"

"Protect me from what, Mrs. Coulter?"

"Sin and dust"

"Why me? There are plenty of people out there that would happily work for you. Why'd you choose me? I'm nothing special, my fath.... uncle ignores me so I think you should do the same"

Lyra looks down at her feet trying not to cry. The first few months with Mrs. Coulter were great, she wished to have a mother like her till that day where she had the golden monkey attack Pan. Lyra was one to not hold grudges but that one day changed her outlook of Mrs. Coulter and the golden monkey.

Mrs. Coulter gets up and sits next to Lyra, she places her hand in Lyra's shoulder. Lyra flinches at the touch and moves away. Marisa reaches out her hand as if to say no come back I'm sorry, but she decided to leave it for now.

"I never meant to do you any harm Lyra"

"Do me harm? It should be the children you should say sorry to. They need it more than me. I can't deal with this right now"

Lyra gets up and walks towards her room. Before she shuts her door she turns around and sees Mrs. Coulter wiping tears from her face. The door shuts and Marisa silently sobs to herself.

"You have no idea how much I need you right now Lyra"

Marisa gets up and walks to her study and shuts the door.

"I don't know if we should believe anything she says Lyra. If she didn't mean to harm us she wouldn't of had her dæmon attack us"

"She's hiding something, I wonder what it is. I vow to never leave this room and if she ever leaves we try everything to escape again, even if we have to break a window to get out"

Pan nods to the idea and they both just sit in silence.

A few hours passed, Pan and Lyra were laying on the bed, just about asleep till a knock on the door scared them.

"Lyra? Can I come in please"

"Pretend we are asleep, maybe she'll leave"

Five minutes pass and Mrs. Coulter is still standing at the door, quietly calling out to Lyra.

"Wait here Pan, I'll see what she wants"

Pretending to have just woken up Lyra opens her bedroom door to see Mrs. Coulter holding a dinner tray with a big bowl of soup.

"I had asked the cook to make soup as I knew you like it very much"

"Thanks but I'm not hungry"

Lyra slams the door and goes back to bed.

"Uhhh maybe you shouldn't of done that Lyra"

Next thing the door flys open and the golden monkey comes charging in straight for Pan. There was a little fight between dæmons till the golden monkey got a good grip on Pan.
Marisa walks in slams the tray on the bed, soup goes everywhere.

"You don't disrespect me like that in my own home, I didn't raise you to be like that"

Lyra staring straight into the eyes of a woman she fondly looked up to, now a woman she's scared off. Trying to get out of Mrs. Coulters strong grip, the golden monkey tightened his grip around Pan.

"Let go off me, you're hurting me"

"I'll let go when you act like a proper young lady and not like one of those wild children"

"I promise I'll be good, please let go of me"

Marisa lets go and the golden monkey lets go of Pan.

"In the future you'll be well behaved. Do you understand?"

Lyra whimpers

"Yes, Mrs. Coulter"

Mrs. Coulter leaves the room and shuts the door behind her. Pan comes running to be by Lyra. That's now two incidents Lyra has had with her new guardian. She doesn't want that to happen again.